Punalu'u Beach

Today we visited the beautiful black sand of Punalu'u Beach on the south coast of Hawaii.  It is a gorgeous beach with a wonderful energy.  Today was a very windy day -- not great for sitting on the beach, but fine for walking around.

As we walked to the beach, we passed 4 nene geese (the state bird of Hawaii).  They were just hanging out adjacent to our path to the beach.  We could easily get within 6 or 10 feet of them without startling them.

On the beach, I found 3 Hawaiian green sea turtles sleeping at the edge of the water, and a smaller one was swimming around in the water behind them.

This is a lovely place with great family memories for us.

Not any groundhogs here, but Happy Groundhog's Day!

Swimming with the fishes

Finally, we went snorkeling. We went early to avoid crowds.  The current wasn't too strong, so we could cover a lot of territory.  Didn't see the diversity or the number of fish as previously, but it was nice to re-connect with some lovely, colorful fellow swimmers.

I even found several cleaning stations.  Most often, convict surgeonfish (manini) were soliciting cleaning from Hawaiian cleaner wrasse (yellow head with magenta tail end).

Fish posture and/or turn dark to solicit cleaning.  This cleaner appears to be a subadult saddle wrasse.

I also spotted a longnose butterflyfish (lau wiliwili nukunuku 'oi'oi), often my photographic nemesis.

The orangespine unicornfish (umaumalei) is always nice to encounter.

Beach day

Hawaiian beaches are quite varied in appearance.  Some are covered by lovely white, black, or green sand.  Others are a motley combination of broken-down coral and lava rock.   But it's the tropics and beaches draw big crowds when the weather is nice.

We visited a favorite beach today, north of the marina.  Part of the park property is a nature preserve for the endangered Hawaiian stilt.  And we found two stilts at one of the ponds.

While people with soft feet (tourists) need stiff soles to navigate over the lava rock, locals walk barefoot on it.

Surfers always seem hopeful of having a primo experience.

Aloha for another day.

Sending a little color in the winter

A diverse group of plants live in Hawaii.  Like the visitors and fauna, many are non-native.  Regardless, they can still brighten a winter day.  These plants were growing in the Old Airport park nature trail in Kona.

This plant is named the Seashell Devil's Backbone.  It is in the genus Euphorbia and native to subtropical North America and Central America.

Bougainvillea are frequently used in landscape plantings here.  They come in a variety of colors and are native to South America.

Plumeria (aka frangipani) is native to South America.  Their flowers are fragrant, and the plants always amaze me when they bloom abundantly before their leaves come out.

Cacti were also blooming today.  I think this is a prickly pear cactus, native to the Americas.

Aloha until next time.

Music in Kona

We have been here less than 2 weeks and already seen two concerts. 

The first was an open-air classical performance by the Chamber Orchestra of Kona. 

The second was and indoor jazz performance at the Aloha theater headlined by the Bill Noble Jazz Ensemble. 

The classical conductor (from a week ago) played trumpet in the jazz ensemble.

The ensemble had a great singer, Pamela Umaili.

Part of the opening act (Black Moon) showcased the future of music in Hawaii with 9-yr old London on the guitar.

Another season of Aloha

This morning, I went walking down along the ocean.  At the nearest beach, I saw a fisherman using a cast net to catch some fish.

As I was leaving the beach, I noticed that he had just netted some fish and was bringing his catch to shore.  I asked him if I could take a photo of him and his catch: convict sturgeonfish (Hawaiian name manini.)

It's always nice to see something that I wouldn't encounter on a walk at home.

Warm wishes from Hawaii.

A night at the opera (house)

Last night, we attended a performance of the ballet Sylvia in the Garnier Opera house.  This ballet, music composed by Leo Delibes and choreographed by Manuel Leris, had its premier here at the Palais Garnier in 1876.  The Opera house is a gorgeous building that was built from 1861 to 1875 and reflects the ornate tastes of the times.

Much of the exterior of the building is under restoration and shielded by wrap.  What remains exposed is still lovely.

Inside, the auditorium is beautiful and a little over the top at the same time.  The musically themed ceiling is fairly modern. It was painted by Marc Chagall in 1964.

Chagall's ceiling

We were seated under the Magic Flute (La Flute Enchantee)

Ceiling art

Box seats

Photos are not allowed during the performance, but cameras came out for the curtain call.